Ryouta looked around nervously.

Burly men was surrounding them from all sides, all looking at him as if he was their enemy.

“Tch!” One man clicked his tongue.

“Fucking trash,” another muttered.

He was very puzzled.

Why were the men hostile towards him? Even the girl had been hostile towards him. Although he indeed was a somewhat suspicious person for sneaking around in the area, from the beginning to the end, he had not drawn his weapon, nor did he do or say anything rude. So why were they all acting so aggressively?

The girl from before came forward, “Little girl, come with me.” She ushered Shiro to follow her, her eyes softening into a sympathetic look. However, the moment her eyes landed on Ryouta, it became cold and harsh, as if she was looking at the criminal who had killed her pet.

“…?”

Shiro, on the other hand, was also puzzled.

Hm~? Why are all these people emanating killing intent~? Ehhh, Shiro isn’t tasty, okay? Shiro isn’t good for butchering, okay?

“Little girl, come.” Seeing that Shiro had no intention of following her, the girl began to pull her arm.

Ryouta, who was holding onto Shiro, stumbled forward due to the pulling. Thankfully, he managed to stabilise himself. He heaved a sigh of relief, offhandedly staring at the dirty floor.

He held in his disgust.

The floor of the ship they were standing on had clearly not been washed for days. Dirt and grime covered the floor, and there was an unidentified visible stain near where they stood. He felt it was unsafe for Shiro’s dainty feet to step on the floor; the girl refused to wear any shoes, so her feet would be dirtied the moment he let her off his back. Thinking of the possible bacteria and infection one could get from the floor, he inwardly shivered. There was no way in hell he was going to allow Shiro to put her foot down on the ground!

Seeing Ryouta’s action, the look in the girl’s eyes became even more severe. She had actually misunderstood his action as being possessive of the white-haired girl.

Actually, the reason why the people were so hostile towards him was due to the slave collar on Shiro’s neck.

It was ingrained in their minds that those who bought slaves were despicable people, and Ryouta was simply an unlucky fellow who happened to carry a slave around, so they had thought that he, too, was a despicable person.

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“Um, excuse me. Is this ship headed towards the Republic?”

“What’s it to ya?!” Another man answered roughly.

“We’re looking for a ship to the Republic,” Ryouta explained briefly, looking around. He spotted another group of people at another area on the ship, eyeing the group, or more specifically, Ryouta, warily.

Ryouta’s eyes widened as he noticed the slave collars lying around near their feet.

“That…!” His eyes brightened in excitement. Could it be— “Hey, is there anyone on this ship that knows how to remove the collar?!”

“?!” Seeing the excited look on Ryouta’ s face, the people around him was taken aback.

“Why? What do you want to do?” The girl asked defensively.

“Shiro’s collar, it seems like there was no one in the Port Town that knew how to remove it. Although Shiro doesn’t seem to mind it, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth knowing that Shiro is still considered as a slave as long as she has the collar.”

The men exchanged glances, stunned. So they were misunderstanding things?

The girl’s expression became complicated. Her initial impression of the boy turned out to be wrong. The boy was actually looking for a way to free the girl.

It was no wonder that the white-haired girl refused to part with him.

“Uh, unfortunately, the item we used to remove the slave collars has already outlived its use. It broke down just before you arrived.”

“Oh.”

Seeing the downturned gaze of Ryouta, the girl suddenly felt flustered. “B-but, there’s a person who knows how to remove the collar on our side!”

“You said you were headed for the Republic, right? We are also heading that way. Don’t worry, the person that can remove the collar is also waiting for us at the Republic; you can come with us, if you want.” Losing their hostility towards the younger man, one of the man spoke, no trace of their earlier harshness in sight.

Hearing their reassuring words, Ryouta regained his spirits. He turned his head to look at Shiro, “did you hear that, Shiro? You can be free soon!”

“Nn? Nn!” Although Shiro did not care for the measly collar, seeing Ryouta happy also made her happy, so yaaaay~

Eh?

Wait? Could it be that Ryouta reeeaaaaaally hates seeing the collar on Shiro? Hm~ Sorry Mr. Sketchy Merchant. It seems like Shiro should reeeaaaaally remove it so Ryouta can be happier~

Crack!

“…?”

“…!”

“?! ?! ?!”

Suddenly, a ‘cracking’ sound came from behind Ryouta’s back.

Shiro’s cheeks were puffed as she narrowed her eyes in concentration. Her tiny palms were holding the collar on her neck, a visible, large crack in its middle.

Somehow, the sturdy, magically enhanced slave collar, that was impossible to remove by just any Tom, Dick or Harry, was easily broken by the collar-wearer herself.

Eh?

Surprised, was the collective reaction of everyone on board.

Everyone’s stupefied gaze moved from Shiro to Ryouta, whose eyes were also wide with surprise.

“Ah… Shiro?” Ryouta gulped, cold sweat breaking on his back.

“Nn?”

“Shiro, could it be that… you could have done this earlier?”

“Nn? Yeah!”

“…Why didn’t you tell me?” And let me run around like a headless chicken searching for a way to remove it, he added silently in his head.

“Didn’t ask~” From Shiro’s point of view, she could hear the spirits around her echo her words, “Didn’t ask~ Didn’t ask~”

Hearing the cacophony of cute voices, Shiro giggled.

Ryouta’s face darkened. He heaved a defeated sigh after seeing the foolish smile on Shiro’s face.